Wizard Staff
The Wizard Staff, in the form of the "Magnolia Frau", the first Staff blade and a guaranteed blade available without random drops; it always drops in a boss battle in Town Center West. It is the last of the Starting Weapons, after Langdebeve; it is tied for eleventh with Guisarme, which drops in the same boss battle. It is a Long Weapon, and like all Staffs, has a range of four. Range, especially for melee weapons, does not feature prominently in other games, but in Vagrant Story, almost all attackers either hit and run or in the case of bosses, are extremely large. Long Weapons are able to hit more locations on the large enemies from a single spot, and can be more reliably counted on to be able to attack the ones that run away, before they move out of range. Spells use Intelligence to determine damage, rather than Strength; all other weapon types other than Staff have zero Intelligence. Wizard Staff has five Intelligence, but even the lowliest of Gems have four, and the Major ones have six; many Exceptional gems have twelve and the best gem of all, the Arturos, has fifteen. Even if players prefer not to use spells, and the MP use in the absence of many resources with which to regain MP does make them unwieldy, they may still prefer to carry one as a tool, as they might a Crossbow to kill inaccessible boxes; a tool to reduce RISK. 105 kills with a Staff (only the final killing blow is necessary) will obtain the Riskbreaker Break Art. Spells ignore Class, and therefore its bonuses to the Wizard Staff are superfluous to spell damage. The "Magnolia Frau" should be considered solely for its contribution to making higher-Tier weapons, and for kills to get Staff Break Arts, including Riskbreaker. As spells ignore Class, Nemesis gems with bonuses to Class on Shields are useless against enemy magic. Spells, like Break Arts, get a bonus (Multiplier), which makes them desirable against enemies with high Chain Evade. Magnolia Frau has a blade, as only the Scramasax among the Starting Weapons. Silver is naturally high in and Class bonuses, and high in Affinity. In the first playthrough, Silver can only be worked with other Silver or Damascus blades at the end of the midgame, in the Metal Works workshop in Town Center South. As the second Silver blade, it makes possible a blade each for both Undead and Phantom, albeit one that is very weak in melee, the only way to use its Class bonuses. "Magnolia Frau" and other Silver weapons can be integrated into combinations with Damascus in the first playthrough, before New Game Plus and access to Godhands workshop. Since Staff is near the end of the Design Prevalence chain, the "Magnolia Frau" blade's Silver material will not be transferred to any combination with any Designs other than Daggers. Furthermore, because Staves are near the end of the Design Prevalence chain, their products will take on Damascus material in any combinations with Designs of weapons other than Daggers. Like Rapier and Guisarme, and unlike the other guaranteed Starting Weapons, the Wizard Staff blade itself does not come from a chest. It is acquired from Duane at Tircolas Flow in Town Center West, while the Guisarme drops from Bejart, one of the Crimson Blades accompanying Duane. Wizard Staff, like all of the eight Staves, is Blunt Type, but this is of little consequence; Staves are for magic casting; spells have a damage Type of their own, and instead of Strength, the damage bonus comes from Intelligence. Therefore, Grips for it should be chosen for their Gem capacity. Minor Elemental gems such as Sylphid Topaz will add 7.5% the value of the Intelligence total against enemies with a weakness to their Affinity, and between four and fifteen Intelligence directly to the total. Wizard Staff's Damage Points are 73 at maximum, which would add 13.25% to Intelligence. Its Phantom Points are 190 at maximum, adding 47.5% to Intelligence. Material, even Bronze, adds its own Intelligence and other stats to weapons' base stats As pointless as incorporating the Wizard Staff into mere Progressions is, the following should be considered a quest of its own, rather than a utility to aid other crafting. Like most of the other Starting Weapons, Wizard Staff is incapable of a Progression, a superior combinations with the following Staff Tier; it can only devolve higher-Tier Staff blades. In the second playthrough, in the Second Iron Maiden, there are enemies that drop a Silver Shamanic Staff to turn the Magnolia Frau into a Progression-capable Clergy Rod, and others which drop Silver Summoner Batons to turn the resulting Clergy Rod into a Shamanic Staff, and turn that into a Bishop's Crosiers. Alternatively, also in the second playthrough, Damascus Bishop's Crosier's drop in Undercity East, which would turn the Wizard Staff directly into a Silver Summmoner Baton. See also * Staff * Staff Combinations * Spell Damage Category:Short Weapons Category:Staff Category:Starting Weapons